-Chapter Three-

It's Hell for us to draw the fetters

Of life in alienation, stiff.

All people prefer to share gladness,

And nobody - to share grief

-Mikhail Lermontov, "Loneliness"

The weekend came, and not a moment too soon. Hermione didn't think she could take any more of her lifeless classes, the hours filled with students sitting straight-backed and tense, staring dully at her as she attempted to teach her lessons with as much pep as possible. This was definitely not how she had imagined her career as a teacher, less than auspicious circumstances aside.

After her long week, she was looking forward to catching up on her sleep. Between grading papers and exams, preparing for future lessons, and, of course, her relentless nightmares, she averaged less than 4 hours of sleep a night, and the lack of rest was beginning to take its toll on her. A long sleep-in on Saturday morning was just the thing she needed.

After a quiet dinner on Friday evening, Hermione returned to her rooms, and, barely pausing to change out of her robes and wash her face, crawled into her soft, inviting bed. Glancing at the clock, she saw that it was only half-past seven. She grinned sleepily. "Old maid," she muttered at herself, and with that plopped her head onto her pillow and was fast asleep within minutes, a purring Crookshanks curled up by her stomach.

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Knock.

Knock.

Knock.

"Hermione?"

The woman in question lifted her head slowly off of the pillow, wishing desperately that whoever the hell was making all the racket would just go away so she could go back to sleep. The knocking continued, though, and she was forced to make an effort at waking up more fully.

She brushed a strand of hair off her face and peered through blurry eyes at the bedside clock: 6:17. Groaning, she pulled her feet up and swung her legs over the edge of the bed. "I'm coming!" she yelled at the door, pulling on her robe and rubbing her eyes violently.

She yanked open the door, fully prepared to hex the idiot who had the nerve to wake her up at this ungodly hour but stopped in her tracks when she saw Remus Lupin standing in the doorway. She suppressed the stray feminine urge to pat her hair down, and gazed at him rather stupidly. They hadn't really talked since the night he had walked her back to her rooms; he had rarely been at dinner, as he had recently agreed to tutor a group of 7th years in some more advanced defense charms.

"This had better be an emergency," she told him grumpily, frowning in mock outrage. If there was anyone she could forgive for waking her up at six o'clock on a Saturday morning, it was Remus Lupin.

He grinned sheepishly at her, and bowed his head mockingly. "My deepest apologies, Professor Granger. You see, I was under the impression that a certain…esteemed Arithmancy professor might wish to accompany yours truly on an early morning dip in the lake, but I suppose that doesn't quite qualify as an emergency, so I'll just be leaving now…"

He made a move to walk back down the corridor. She laughed and grabbed his arm.

"You git, come back here," she smiled, pulling him back. "Give me five minutes to get dressed."

He just smiled and shook his head as she turned and reentered her rooms.

True to her word, Hermione emerged after about five minutes, robes on over her bathing suit and voluminous hair pulled back in a simple ponytail.

"Professor Granger," Lupin said respectfully, holding out his arm for her.

"Professor Lupin" she replied, grinning at him and tucking her hand into the crook of his elbow as they made their way to the lake.

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It was fairly dark outside when they emerged from the doors of the Entrance Hall, and they crossed the grounds guided by the light of Hermione's wand.

Soon, the dark, placid lake loomed in front of them, the top of the giant squid's head barely visible as it snoozed somewhere near the western bank, its breaths forming large, silent bubbles on the lake's surface. A soft breeze was blowing, creating light ripples on the water and moving the branches of the nearby trees.

"Ouch!" Hermione exclaimed as she tripped over an unseen rock. Lupin grabbed her arm, supporting her.

"Thanks," she mumbled, readjusting her grip on her wand. They walked a little closer to the bank before stopping to take off their robes. Hermione couldn't help sneaking a glance at Remus's bare upper body and legs, which were quite…pleasant, in her opinion; strong, but not like a bodybuilders and with the slightest beginnings of belly flab.

She didn't fail to notice the decidedly approving glance Lupin sent sliding over her body, clad in a modest dark-blue two piece.

She made a move for the lake, testing the water with her big toe and jumping back with a small yelp when she felt how cold it was.

"It must be about 20 degrees below zero!" she exclaimed, looking next to her at Remus, who was already hip-deep in the dark water.

"C'mon, don't be chicken!" he called back at her. "A little sub-arctic water won't kill you!"

"Ha, ha," she muttered under her breath, daring to take another baby step into the water.

She stood shivering there for a moment, her arms crossed and the water lapping gently around her lower legs.

"Remus?" she called, unable to make out his form in the darkness. She heard some splashing and called his name again. "Come back here!"

Suddenly, she felt cold, wet arms around her waist, lifting her up above the ground. She screamed and flailed her legs.

She felt Remus's low laughter in her ear. "Shhhh, you'll wake the whole castle!"

She laughed but continued to resist. "Put me down, you dolt!"

But he continued to carry her farther and farther into the water, until her lower body was completely submerged. She whimpered from the cold, clutching at Lupin, who laughed at her.

"What happened to all that famed Gryffindor bravery?" he teased her, finally letting her go.

She suddenly found herself completely underwater, and inadvertently swallowed what felt like about a gallon of lake water. When she had kicked her way up above the surface, she let out a shriek.

Blinking her eyes rapidly to clear them of water and shivering violently, she reached out blindly for Lupin. He caught her by the wrist and twirled her around in the water, laughing at her water-logged appearance. She grinned despite herself, and, when she was able to see clearly, splashed Lupin right in the face with a large amount of lake water.

He spluttered, and it was her turn to laugh. "You'll pay for that," he growled, wildly thrashing his arms and sending a spray of freezing water straight at her.

She laughed heartily as they continued their impromptu splashing contest. She hadn't had this much fun in a quite a long time; it was nice to act like a child again. Then again, she had never really gotten the opportunity to act like a child back when she actually was one…

Half-blinded by the water in her eyes, she reached out and made contact with Lupin's upper arm. He grabbed her and pulled her closer to him, so they were almost chest-to-chest. Hermione, still laughing, wiped the water out of her eyes with the hand that wasn't being held by Lupin's.

The sun was starting to peek out of the treetops of the Forbidden Forest, casting a pinkish orange tint on the entire lake and the surrounding grounds. The breeze had grown stronger now, and several strands of Hermione's curly auburn hair had escaped from the low ponytail. Remus lifted his hand and pushed them off of her face gently, staring at her with an intensity she had rarely seen in him. She had stopped laughing now, and returned his gaze seriously.

Without warning, his lips were on hers, light and wet from all the lake water, softly pressing. He pulled back and just looked at her again, as if he were unsure as to what her reaction would be.

Ignoring the strange, mildly unpleasant feeling in her stomach, Hermione slipped her hand under his neck and reached up to kiss him, harder this time. He pulled her shivering body even closer to his, bringing his hand to rest on her hip.

Soon, before things became to…intense, she pulled away, her breath a bit shallow. "Remus, I don't think its such a good idea to be doing this right now…" she began, looking at him with a pleading look in her eyes.

He smiled, a little sadly. "Of course, you're right. The students will be up in a bit; I won't even begin to imagine their reactions to catching two of their teachers snogging in the lake."

She laughed at that. Despite her earlier words, she reached up and put both of her arms around him in a wet embrace. He seemed pleasantly surprised by this, and put his arms around her waist, holding her gently. As Hermione laid her cheek on the warm, strong shoulder of Remus Lupin, a man she had known since her childhood and trusted implicitly, she fought to sink the feeling of unease in her gut, and wondered why something that was so right in every way felt so horribly wrong to her instincts.

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Author's Notes:

FYI, I do not picture the Remus Lupin portrayed in fan fiction as the Remus Lupin portrayed by David Thewlis in POA. I saw the movie, and I think he fits the role absolutely perfectly, but when it comes to fan fiction, I picture Lupin as looking a lot younger and…scragglier, I suppose is the word. A lot like Ralph Fiennes…in fact, there was a website devoted to him in the role of Lupin.

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On another note, I may decide to discontinue this story. To put it bluntly, I don't really like this story. I mean, I LOVE stories with both Lupin and Snape as Hermione's love interests, but I don't really like where this one is going. In my eyes, BaronessvonLooney's Further Education is the best story I've read that that's like that, and there's absolutely no way I could ever make the plot or characterizations of this story as good as hers. Plus, I'm running out of plot ideas, and I really am not looking forward to writing about the technical aspects of Hermione helping Snape brew the potion. Urghhh….

I knew there was a reason I like writing one-shots better…

If anyone has any ideas or tips that they're willing to share, just email me at dianesus773yahoo.com, that would be sooo fantastically helpful.